Executive Team Coaching Won’t Work Without Trust—Here’s Where to Start Instead

When your team’s climate doesn’t have enough safety or trust…don’t start with team coaching.

You’ve got a team that’s struggling. Relationships are strained, hostility is in the air, and people are afraid to speak up. So you think, "We need a team coach to help us."

While executive team coaching can be a supersolution for transformation, in this case—don’t start there.

Team coaching invites people to share what’s really going on, work through challenges openly, and practice new behaviors together (with some wobbles and falls along the way). But if trust is broken and safety is missing, team coaching can actually make things worse.Watch out for the Individual Problem Trap:

Is this about the team, or is it really about one person’s inability (or unwillingness) to step up? If it’s the latter, don’t punish high performers by making them sit through “team development” that’s really about someone else.

Watch out for the Team Climate Crisis

Before you bring in a team coach, check the climate in the room. If you have:

• Sides being taken or “us vs. them” dynamics

• Avoidance, gossip, or passive-aggressive behavior

• Meetings where people are silent—or only speak up after the fact

These are signs of low trust and safety that need attention first.

Executive Team Coaching works best when there’s enough openness and willingness to engage—when people aren’t afraid to be real.

Where to start when the trust foundation needs work?

• Relationship coaching for the individuals and sub-groups where trust breakdowns and conflicts are strongest. Engage a skillful relationship coach. It’s the most direct way to clear concerns, repair breaches, and find agreements on how to move forward–together. 

• Facilitated trust-building sessions to create shared agreement and language on what “good” looks like for trust and safety in the team; and learn the “team moves” to build trust and manage breakdowns.

If your team’s climate needs a reset, don’t jump right into full team coaching. Do the foundational work first. Once people feel safe enough to be candid, that’s when team coaching becomes the accelerator it’s meant to be.

Want to accelerate team performance but not sure if the climate is right? We can help you figure out the best first step. Let’s talk.